Examples of Suspected Fraud or Fake Emails

PayPal_Andy
Moderator
Moderator

Hey Everybody!

 

In an effort to make things easier to find and research, I'm going to consolidate as many threads as possible where we have examples of people trying to defraud hard working sellers (Craigslist emails, 'PayPal' emails asking you to send money outside of PayPal, etc).  This will also be used as a master thread for future posts regarding this same situation.

 

When you post your examples here, please remember to not include last names or contact information of whoever is sending these emails.  There's no way to confirm if that person has been defrauded as well and the name is being used fraudulently.

 

Thanks for your cooperation and remember, keep the conversation productive, on task, and above all, keep it clean. I know these things can be difficult and frustrating, but bleep filled posts or posts that look like government redacted files will never benefit anyone. 😄

 

Andy

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2,000 REPLIES 2,000

Mimi-di
New Community Member

I just rec'd an email  supposedly from Paypal saying my browzer needed to be updated.  Click here to update.  I don't think PayPal sent that email.....If they did, let me know....If they DIDN'T, beware!

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FranklinTech
Contributor
Contributor

Me too... no prominent mention of the email on Paypal.com or Safebrowser.com hit in Paypal site search. Hmmm

 

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PayPal_Andy
Moderator
Moderator

Mimi-di and FranklinTech-  That actually is a legitimate email from PayPal.  See the answer I've posted here for more info.

 

Andy

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I got one of those emails also!!  Would someone from PayPal please mention on here if the company has actually sent these out to certain customers?  I'd forward it to the spoof email address, but the last time I received a suspicious paypal email and sent it to that address, nobody responded to me to let me know whether or not it was actually an email that didn't come from paypal. 

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Nicsplace
Contributor
Contributor

If you right click on an email and VIEW SOURCE you can see where the link takes you. 

Do a search, do NOT paste in your browser, and you will get results that show you where you will go if you click on the link.

 

I got the same Paypal update browser email today.  In the lower portion of View Source, it will come up in notepad, you will see the following attached to the links:

DO NOT CLICK ON THIS LINK   I added some xx's to ruin the link

xxxxxxxh//a248.e.akamai.netxxxxxx/f/248/47562/14d/igxxxxxxx.rsys4.net/responsysimages/pplna/!MasterDocs/foo...  <----  This is the part that concerns me!  Account info transfer!!

 

 

The search results are a Japanese porn site and a believegodbelieve  site.  Although the emailt shows my full name, SCARY how did they get my name,  this is a fraud email.

 

 

If I am wrong I stand corrected.

 

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hybonashi
Member
Member

So I have a suburban for sale at a fair price, I am not new to selling things on ebay or craigslist and when I got this email asking if the saburban was still for sell I didn't think anything of it. Yet after I replied I recieved the following:

 

Thanks for the reply, i am a sailor, i am at sea right now so l wont be able to check the item so whats the present condition, because am buying this for my son as a surprise gift so am willing to offer you the amount you required. I can only pay through PayPal at the moment as i don't have access to my bank account online(i don't have internet banking with it), but i have it attached to my PayPal account, and this is why i insisted on using PayPal to pay, all i will need is your PayPal email address to pay for the item, and if you don't have a PayPal account yet, you can set one up at www.paypal.com  it cant take you less than 3mins to do that, i will be expecting your PayPal email so l can pay. I have a pick up agent that will come for the pick up after payment has been sorted. l will be waiting for your reply asap

 

 

Another scam, this one used a gmail.com email address as well. 

 

Funny thing is being a former sailor myself I have never met one that is willing to make a deal on a vehicle site unseen

 

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JodyGardner
New Community Member

I just got this same stupid scam about a motorcycle I'm selling on KSL.  Good thing I Googled it before responding.  Stupid thiefs.

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hybonashi
Member
Member

Here is another:

 

Thanks for the reply, i am a sailor, i am at sea right now so l wont be able to check the item so whats the present condition, because am buying this for my son as a surprise gift so am willing to offer you the amount you required. I can only pay through PayPal at the moment as i don't have access to my bank account online(i don't have internet banking with it), but i have it attached to my PayPal account, and this is why i insisted on using PayPal to pay, all i will need is your PayPal email address to pay for the item, and if you don't have a PayPal account yet, you can set one up at www.paypal.com  it cant take you less than 3mins to do that, i will be expecting your PayPal email so l can pay. I have a pick up agent that will come for the pick up after payment has been sorted. l will be waiting for your reply asap

 

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jlg3gr
Contributor
Contributor

I got the exact same one word for word!!

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GBJ36541
Member
Member

For a while now, there has been a scam going on where someone sends an email asking if I can repair their computers. When I ask them for details, I usually get the same song and dance response:

 

Hello

How you doing,I read your description and i am highly impressed in your services.

I have some Hp PCs(Intel Pentium IV) at my computer school which my wife is in-charge using that to support my navy work since we currently have a major breakdown on most of our systems and I thought it was best to have a general upgrade and maintenance.(I will be providing the software needed).

Below are the things needed to be done one on each laptops:

1 Format Hard Drive
2 Install Windows 7 or Windows xp with Service Pack 2
3 Microsoft Office Package
4 AVG Virus Software (Free Lifetime Updates)
5 Adobe Acrobat
6 Laptop Cleaning of the keyboard, screen and other case.
7 Diagnostics of the entire system after to check hard, CD Rom, floppy, etc.

I will like you to know that my mode of payment is by Paypal transfer to your Paypal account Fast and Secure....I work as a navy officer and I'm currently at sea and i want you to know that i will handle the shipment myself since i have a shipper from the state here that will bring the laptops to your place,and will come pick them up as soon as you are done with them.

I should have make this a phone order but i have a network problem of where i am and my shipper will be coming with the necessary Software for the installations of the Computers with both the Operating Systems,Microsoft Office and the Anti-virus for each computers .However,get back to me with your last asking price for the 50 laptops.

I await your urgent response so that i can put the arrangement in order.

Thanks and hope to read from you soon.

What has changed this time is that they intend to pay via PayPal, when all the other scam attempts I've gotten want to send a check.

 

How do I ensure that some innocent victim's funds are not transferred into my account? The scammer already has my email address, which is attached to my paypal account.

 

Any advice on this matter will be welcome. I just don't want to take any chances.

 

Thanks in advance

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